With 92nd annual Memorial Day Parade, a perfect day for patriotism on Staten Island

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Remembering America’s fallen heroes and honoring those who died so that the nation they left behind would flourish and remain safe was the focus of yesterday’s 92nd annual Staten Island Memorial Day Parade.

For scores of Islanders, beaches, ballgames and barbecues were all part of the Memorial Day weekend.

But those activities are possible because of those who fought for our freedom.

That’s the note the United Staten Island Veterans Organization sought to strike when its mile-plus parade — filled with pomp and pageantry — stepped off from Forest Avenue at Hart Boulevard.

Memorial Day should remind the younger generation of the sacrifice made by Americans who came before them, said Edwin Petrazzolo of the 1st Army, 7th Corps, who served in World War II, fighting his way from Normandy to Central Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge.

“Servicemen left their lives in foreign lands,” said Petrazzolo, a Dongan Hills resident. “I just hope that the young people continue to realize how much the servicemen have given and have meant to the country.”

Having parents who survived the Holocaust during World War II inspired Annadale’s Emanuel Saks to sign up with the 1st Aviation Brigade with the 164th Combat Aviation Group in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

“I am proud to have served this country,” Saks said. “My parents are holocaust survivors, and I felt that I owed a debt of gratitude to this great nation for giving us a new home.”

Memorial Day has become somewhat commercialized, and Saks feels that the day’s true meaning should not be lost amongst items on the discount rack in a store.

“We’re talking about saying ‘thank for your service,’ we’re not interested in a sale,” Saks explained. “I’m here to thank my fellow veterans for their service and protection of this great nation.”

Jim Luzzi of Oakwood spent 124 days on the Anzio Beachhead fighting in one of the “most crucial battles,” of World War II, where the Army suffered 87,000 casualties, and 22 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor.

“They’re supporting all our troops, and that’s what’s important, solidarity amongst the people and the veterans,” Luzzi said of the day’s events. “Hopefully we’ll get all our troops back home again.”

Mariners Harbor resident Tony Moody, a rifle platoon leader with the Army’s 28th Infantry Division and later an architect who designed the Battle of the Bulge monument that stands in Wolfe’s Pond Park, served as grand marshal.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was among the elected officials who attended yesterday’s parade.

“It’s important to remember why this is a special weekend,” Cuomo said. “It’s a pleasure to be out with a lot of veterans celebrating the memory and the essence of what America is all about.”

The rain prior to the parade did not interfere much with a weekend of celebrations for Castleton Corners resident John N. Sollazzo, a retired member of the FDNY who served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Intrepid during the early 1960s.

“Being a retired firefighter, it is an honor to have served this country and to have served this city,” Sollazzo said. “The rain washed away all the tears and set the pace for memorial services. Lest we never forget, and host our service men and women who gave their lives so that we could live freely.”

Kevin Collins, a Marine who served during the Vietnam Era, chose to remember a fellow Marine Captain John J. McKenna IV, an activated reservist and New York State Trooper who lost his life in Fallujah, Iraq in 2006.

Said Collins: “This is what’s it’s all about. We lost [good] people like John J. McKenna IV.”